Friday, February 27, 2015

Retro-Mule: Comic Strip Film Viewer, Pt. 1

I found a box of odd-and-end type things and was going through it when I realized that I had found old artwork from the early 1980's!  Some things that I had completely forgot about were now here for me to share, and that's what I want to do this week and next.  So, let's start walking down the memory lane.  Quickly.  Walk fast.  I think there are muggers out here....

When I was a little kid, 1983 or so, I took a flat cardboard box and some rolls of receipt tape that my mom brought home to me and created something I thought was neat (at first).

Before continuing: The receipt tape was paper that I could use to draw on instead of my primary tablets.  It was free, and we weren't very financially able to splurge on drawing paper, so my mom supported my drawing habit any way she could.  Even my grandparents who would tear open a paper sack that groceries came in so I could draw on that.  Unfortunately, none of that exists.

Back to my creation:  I thought that the idea was neat to have the comic strips run in a particular order so they could be threaded through a 'viewer' and you could read one frame at a time.  It could be read as horizontal strips, or turned and read as vertical strips.


 The problem I noticed after three turns at this was: If you use it, you have the trouble of going back and rewinding the whole strip.  Plus, to print and sell something like this would be more costly than, say, printing an actual comic book that you have the ease of turning pages to read your story.

This week and next, you'll get a chance to see these three turns from the early 1980's and see why this was not  a very profitable idea.  (To read these, read down, then back to the top.)

In this first strip, you see Muley playing one of my favorite video games, Pac-man, and acting out what I also acted out when it was time to stop playing and move long: Pac-icide.  You kill off your Pac-man, end the game, and head outside to play.


(By the way, read these DOWN, and then back to the top.)




To show that I was aiming for a film strip idea here, you can see the countdown to the next 'show.'


In this strip, you see Kevin and Michelle Rhea.  Obviously, Kevin is named after me.  My best friend as a kid was a girl named Michelle, and everyone said we looked a lot alike so I created twins in the MuleyVerse named Kevin and Michelle Rhea (who, in the stories, are my cousins).  Michelle liked the idea of cartooning and created a character that she later gave to me, although I gave her credit for that character for years and you'll see that character in the next installment.

Here are Kevin and Michelle Rhea.

Note:  I love French's Classic Yellow Mustard, and eat some foods (like hot dogs) just so I have something to put mustard on.  Here, you see Kevin Rhea eating a hot dog slathered in mustard!

Hope you enjoyed this walk down memory lane.

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